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{
    "id": 483941,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/483941/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 42,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "extremely anxious. In fact, one practitioner actually left Machakos and moved to safer ground. Evidence showed that there was great anxiety and tension among wananchi who had hitherto co-existed and lived very well in peace. The Senate has a unique role, under Article 96 (1) of the Constitution and that is, protecting the interests of the counties and their governments. This protection must include the protection of the counties from leadership that seeks to disintegrate counties into small sub-units based on ethnicity, clanism or other factors. The Senate cannot shy away from this critically important responsibility. The Senate must pronounce itself with clarity on this matter. Our threshold on matters of national cohesion and unity must be a threshold that protects the interests of the counties and the unity that we profess in the preamble of the Constitution. The Senate must with one voice pronounce its displeasure on matters of incitement to ethnic division and hatred. Our threshold on matters of ethnic division must be one that communicates to Kenyans how seriously we take this issue. We must ask ourselves a critical question. At what point is this threshold met in matters of ethnic- based incitement and division? I ask my colleagues: Should the Senate wait until public officers, serving in critical positions such as those serving in Machakos Level 5 Hospital and other hospitals, have left in order for us to reach the threshold? Do we wait until an innocent Kenyan or Kenyans have been evicted from their land, so that we now say the threshold has been met? Do we wait until there is actual violence and death? Do we wait until the communities in the county are finally up in arms against each other? I propose that we should not. This House must show confidence in itself and its responsibility in terms of making judgment on this matter. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the previous impeachment processes that have taken place in this House, there has never been doubt on which position we should take whenever a matter of this nature has come before us. We must really ask ourselves: As a House, are we at anytime going to set double standards where a person who is on impeachment from my county has got a lower threshold than those of other counties? Are we going at some point to say that if an individual is from my political party, the threshold that I expect is lower than others? We must be clear that on matters that are of this nature, the House must stand together in a non-partisan manner that shows very clearly that Senators will take a position that is guided, not by anything else, but the belief or otherwise of the charges that are before the House. We must ask ourselves whether our actions leave the Senate more united or divided. We must ensure that the message that goes ahead of us to the people of this country is such that they know that the integrity of our House will stay the same; clean and where justice is seen to have been done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have an opportunity to act. The County Assembly of Machakos has given us an opportunity to nip this potential disaster in its bud; that may end up being a nasty event in the history of our country. We must not let that be the case and regret later. There are those who now say that they should have done more in a country called Rwanda during the genocide. This Senate must never be put in a position where it says:- “We should have done more and could have done more before Kenyans started losing their lives and property and wondering whether they are in the right place or they will be attacked at night.” That responsibility of ensuring that, that never happens lies today with this august House. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}